1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a personal watercraft (PWC) which ejects water rearward and planes on a water surface as the resulting reaction, and more particularly to a personal watercraft having a system of separating and eliminating water contained in fuel from the fuel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, personal watercraft have been widely used in leisure, sport, rescue activities, and the like. The personal watercraft has a straddle-type body structure, and is configured to have a water jet pump that pressurizes and accelerates water sucked from a water intake generally provided on a hull bottom surface and ejects it rearward from an outlet port. Thereby, the personal watercraft is propelled. The personal watercraft is equipped with an engine as a power source for driving the water jet pump, a fuel tank for reserving fuel (gasoline) supplied to the engine, and the like, inside of an outer shell of the body.
In such personal watercraft, the fuel is commonly fed into the fuel tank at the waterside or on the water. Therefore, water ingress into the fuel tank is sometimes caused by water splashes to the fuel tank during fuel feeding. When the fuel containing water is supplied to the engine, engine power efficiency is reduced.
In the conventional personal watercraft, the fuel tank is made of semi-transparent resin so that the inside thereof is visible from outside. Inside the fuel tank, the water tends to move downwardly to the bottom because of its specific gravity higher than the specific gravity of the fuel. The water in the fuel tank is detected by visual inspection from outside. After being detected, the water is discharged, together with the fuel, from the fuel tank.
However, since the fuel tank is placed inside of the body, it is not easy to detect whether or not the water is present in the fuel tank by visual inspection. When the water is detected, the fuel needs to be discharged, which work is burdensome.
The present invention address the above-described condition, and an object of the present invention is to provide a personal watercraft capable of separating and eliminating water contained in fuel without inspecting whether or not the water is present in a fuel tank.
According to the present invention, there is provided a personal watercraft comprising: an internal combustion engine; a fuel tank for reserving fuel supplied to the internal combustion engine; an air-fuel mixture generating means for mixing the fuel from the fuel tank with air to generate air-fuel mixture; a fuel supply passage connecting the fuel tank to the air-fuel mixture generating means; and a water separator provided in the fuel supply passage.
In the personal watercraft so constituted, the water contained in the fuel in the fuel tank can be separated and eliminated from the fuel by using the water separator. Thereby, the fuel nearly free from water can be supplied to the internal combustion engine, and consequently, a power efficiency of the internal combustion engine is not reduced. The elimination of water is accomplished merely by discharging the separated water from the water separator, without regularly inspecting whether or not the water is present in the fuel tank. In addition, it is not necessary to discharge the fuel from the fuel tank when the fuel contains the water.
The personal watercraft may further comprise a body member to which the water separator is removably mounted, and the water separator may comprise a container for reserving the fuel and a cap member removably attached to the container, for covering an opening in the container. With such constitution, since the water separator can be removed from the body and the cap member can be detached from the container, the water in the water separator can be easily discharged.
The personal watercraft may further comprise: a cover member, the cover member being adapted to cover a portion where the water separator is mounted and expose the portion where the water separator is mounted. Since the cover member can cover the portion where the water separator is mounted, the body""s external appearance is visually favorable.
In the personal watercraft, when the cover member covers the portion where the water separator is mounted, the cap member may be in contact with a inner face of the cover member or in close proximity to the inner face of the cover member with a slight gap.
In this constitution, when the cap member is not firmly attached to the container, complete covering by the cover member is unfulfilled. From the incomplete covering by the cover member, the user finds that the cap member is not firmly attached to the container.
The personal watercraft may further comprise: a body member provided with an opening capable of being covered and uncovered, and the water separator may be removably mounted inside of the body member in the vicinity of the opening, and the water separator may comprise a container for reserving the fuel and a cap member removably attached to the container, for covering an opening in the container. Thereby, the rider (operator) can easily make access to the water separator by uncovering the opening, and then remove the water separator from the body and remove the cap member from the container. In this manner, the water in the water separator can be discharged.
The personal watercraft may further comprise: a discharge passage; and an opening/closing means for opening/closing the discharge passage, and the water separator may have a container for reserving the fuel, and the discharge passage may be provided at a bottom of the container. With such constitution, by opening the opening/closing means, the water in the container can be discharged outside the watercraft. This eliminates the need for removal of the water separator from the body.
The personal watercraft may further comprise: a biasing means for biasing the opening/closing means to be at a closed position; and an operating means for opening the opening/closing means against a biasing force of the biasing means.
The above and further objects and features of the invention will more fully be apparent from the following detailed description with accompanying drawings.